Words to Live by

Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde suffered throughout his short life from respiratory illness and he spent many years looking for a climate that would cure him. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 41 and is buried on Samoa. In spite of his considerable suffering he had twelve positive attitude tips that he lived by that I would like to share with each of you. They are still incredibly good rules to live by.

Make up your mind to be happy, learn to find pleasure in simple things.

Make the best of your circumstances. Everyone has problems. The trick is to make laughter outweigh the tears.

Don't take yourself too seriously, Don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortunes that befall others.

You can't please everybody. Don't let criticism worry you.

Don't let your neighbor set your standards. Be Yourself.

Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.

Don't borrow trouble. Imaginary burdens are harder to bear than the actual ones.

Hate poisons the soul, so don't carry grudges, avoid people who make you unhappy.

As each of you lives your life remember his advice. Your attitude towards any given situation you encounter will almost always affect you far more than the situation. Attitude is everything in life. Goodnight gentlemen.

Winning Isn't Everything

Some years ago a hard-nosed coach said, "Winning isn't everything, but it sure beats whatever's second. " There's some truth in that. Everyone likes to win. Very few people enjoy losing.

The trouble is that in every type of competition, there must be losers as well as winners. That's true in sports and it's also true in the competitions we will have next week at our camp-out (or camporee).

It's also true in life. You and every other human being find that sometimes you have to be a loser. Perhaps your sports team loses a game on an unlucky break. Or maybe you work hard in school but get low grades. Some people might say you're a loser.

Maybe so. But you don't have to stay a loser. The real difference between winners and losers is that a loss makes some people more determined to do better next time. In the long run they are the winners because they learn to profit by their defeats and mistakes.

No, winning isn't everything. We can learn from losses, too. Let's remember that at the campout and in the years to come.